Staying in Lagom

The capital city of India – Delhi, is known for its plenty. It overflows with people, eateries, and thrift shops. This phenomenon is also mirrored in the weather. More than ever, it’s when May sweatily slithers in, wrapped in burning heat, even anemia with its unnatural cooling of the body, cannot prevent one from the realization of the weather. Having the means and the opportunity to escape this devouring temperature, I accompanied a friend to travel to a small quiet getaway town in Manali; Jagatsukh.

After extensive research for a day, we booked a homestay called Lagom Stay. It was being run by three siblings; one of whom my friend knew, plus they had great reviews.

We reached this fabled spot, frazzled and irritable from our 12-hour long bus ride. Two of the three siblings stay here as hosts of the place. They greeted our grumpy selves with the ever-healing chai and lunch. After that, they introduced us to the staff and left us to our own devices.

The next two days were interspersed with frantically planning to see the key spots around Manali. Since our work week would start from Monday, essentially blocking eight to nine hours of the day. Whenever we came back from our activities, we were welcomed by our hosts. They alternated between listening to our day’s stories while arranging snacks, checking on their staff, and arranging rooms for more guests; all while asking us questions as if they hadn’t heard it all before. Observing this for a while, we probed them with our questions. To our surprise, we found out that they had started this homestay in September 2018; only five years ago and they weren’t residents of Manali. In fact, they had very different job profiles before they started the homestay. Curiosity piqued, I requested them to sit down with me so I could inquire about their operations more deeply.

Of the two of them, Priyanka and Gandharva, Priyanka Di (as we call her now) was busy with the opening of her café. Neither of them was free, but after some convincing, Gandharva agreed to an interview.

We sat in their newly furnished dining room, next to a big window, filtering in light from rose bushes.

I asked Gandharva the questions that were nagging me.

You changed your work profile, job, and city; to something quite different than before. What brought you to this venture and this place?

“I wouldn’t say it’s totally opposite.” He replied, “I dealt with the same type of people there that I do here.” Gandharva has an MBA in marketing and his first assignment was a sales job for Diesel in New Delhi. “What I learned was how to deal with people, and how to remain calm under pressure. You meet all kinds of people from different walks of life. It starts from when you board the metro, till you reach back home at night. You are dealing with people. So, all these things teach you.”

When I asked if he liked talking to and dealing with people, he said: “Eventually yes.” “In school, I was an introvert actually. But in college, I started working for AIESEC (a global platform for young people who are given experiences like internships, volunteering opportunities, etc.) which changed me into an extrovert. I used to handle logistics, meet new people, and interact with professionals who worked for companies. It was a non-profitable organization, but it gave me a platform and a taste of corporate structure. I did not know that meeting new people then would bring me to the job I do now. It’s still a journey. I’m still learning on the way.”

What about when you aren’t in the mood? How do you do this every day?

“I am a Gemini” he answered laughing. “I have one mood for myself, one mood for others.” “But on a serious note, in the hospitality business, you always have to keep smiling. I don’t think the customer is always right, but you have to give your 100 percent. When the customer sees you trying your best, they generally compromise to some extent. So, we are able to come to an understanding. And they also pitch in, because, they also want to enjoy the place.”

Gandharva paused to take a phone call from a potential guest. He discussed their arrival time, and what they would prefer to eat once they reached here. All without a notepad and pen. It seems memorizing these details has become second nature to him since handling logistics in his college days. Phone call done, we started again.

So how did you start this journey?

“Well, it took us five to six months to do the basics; from the house, location, and the people who we will work with, it all had to fit. For example; the location couldn’t be right in the city, but it couldn’t be too far from it either, and the people who we would work with had to understand us and we had to be comfortable with them.

I would say it’s still an ongoing process. We keep collecting things from wherever we go and are always arranging the place. But initially, once we got the idea, the rest happened very fast. I believe if something is written for you, it will move so fast you won’t even understand how it happened. In five months, we had the basics finalized and I had resigned from my job to be here.”

Most people get stuck on the planning and someday, it’s great to see that if you want to take the plunge it can all come together in five- six months. What came after you had the pieces in place? How did you market it? What helped you grow?

“It’s all experience based. For example, you came here. Now you will tell it to five other people. It’s all word of mouth. From our side, we try to provide the same experience to everyone. For instance, for guests who like walks, I will wake up early and take them on hikes. We know some locals now, so we try and get our guests to meet them and understand their stories. There are also lots of activities to do. So we suggest those to our clients. We try and make the trip worthwhile so that whenever they go back, they have good memories of this place. And when they tell these memories to their friends and peers, then they also want to come. So the chain follows.”

What are some things you struggled with when you started?

“There was a lot to start with. It was a new place, we didn’t know anyone, every day we had to keep trying to establish who we were. Also, we were juggling with expectations, ours and those of others with us. Another thing I struggled with was I did not tell my parents for a good six months.”

What was their reaction?

“They were unhappy at first. We come from small towns. They had certain expectations. I had gone to a big city. They expected me to grow big there. When I left that, they thought oh no he’s coming back. But then they came here and saw the place a month after I had set it up. Then they realized that I’m doing something good, and they also offered to help in any way they can. Luckily, I have a good set of partners; there are three of us, Priyanka Di, Jaswant, and self. I would not have been able to do this if they weren’t with me. They are the backbones and that’s how it is for all three of us.”

You’ve talked about expectations a lot. Your’s and others. So how do you set the right expectations, while also competing with the many other hotels and homestays and trying to maintain your edge?

“See, whenever I’m talking to my possible future customer, I always do a video call. I tell them, this is the place. These are the rooms, so don’t expect more. In this business, people also get fooled a lot. They see the pictures online, then reach the place and find it looks completely different. So, my agenda is to let them see that this is what it is. By the way, the name Lagom means perfectly balanced. So that’s the expectation I want them to have; that it’s neither too luxurious nor absolutely basic, it’s somewhere in between. Also, as I mentioned, we give people the experience and the activities. If people like us and our hospitality, they will spread the word. So, I try and stay in touch with people who come here. I message them on holidays. I went to Mumbai recently and met five of my previous clients. It creates a bond, so they feel comfortable when they come here. That’s the edge I guess.”

But I must ask you, right after you started, the pandemic happened. It was a big setback to tourism. How did you handle that? Do you have an approach for setbacks?

“The approach is important. Mine is that I believe there’s always a silver lining. Think about it when it started. We believed everything will shut down, tourism will end. But we are humans and we always find some way or the other to survive. So, for tourism, with the pandemic, came the idea of workcations, and people started coming to the mountains for months. We also learned and adapted to their requirements. We started providing our guest’s WIFI, workstations, and cable. We set it up for people to be able to spend long periods of time here. Actually, even at that time, we knew that when things opened up, there would be revenge travel.”

So you stuck it out hoping for the best. Did you have any guests during that time how did you manage?

“When the pandemic began, I went back home for four months. Priyanka Didi was the only one here. Luckily Two months in, there was a couple that was traveling that came and stayed here. I came back after four months. We were living and doing everything here, with one Didi who would come to clean. So, Priyanka di did all the cooking, and I handled entertainment for the guests.”

I’m curious since you have such an excellent staff here, how do you get the right people on? How do you manage and train them?

“Actually, that was one of the things we had to learn. The first thing was we can’t have our own prototypes. Then we have to give them time to learn. More than us, they had trouble adjusting to our way of life. They come from a different environment. For them to work in hotels and cottages: they think it’s something wrong. So, we had to keep reinforcing that you have to think of this house as your own. Clean it as you clean your own home. Treat guests the way you would do at your own place. We had to show them that they can also relax and be happy here. Also, it’s very important to have a good cook. It sets the tone and the mood of people living here. My sister is very particular about the food. She won’t hesitate in letting people go if she does not like the food. Luckily, we have someone as good as Mohan Bhaiya now. In the beginning, when our expectations were not met, we also let people go.”

Okay. Businesses today are so dependent on review, the hospitality business more than anything. Have you had to deal with negative reviews? How do you handle that?

“Yes, we have dealt with it. It’s simple, sometimes expectations don’t meet. Some people will come here and expect hotel-like services, with 24*7 catering. We don’t provide that. A lot of people came here with those expectations, did not find that and thus did not like the experience. It’s okay. It happens. You have to keep your ego aside when you are running your own business because from top to bottom, it is all your responsibility.”

Wow, that’s good. On that note, can you give some advice to people trying to start their own thing?

“My advice would be, whenever you start your own thing, forget your past job. Forget it because there are people to guide you in an organization, here you don’t. You have to do everything yourself. So, keep your ego aside, and do whatever needs to be done. Also, be where your business is. You will keep learning if you are constantly working at it. You won’t know everything in the beginning. That’s alright. You will learn if you keep doing it. It’s hard work, but when you are enjoying it, it doesn’t feel like that.”

With that, we wrapped up the interview. Gandharva returned to his busy but fulfilling schedule and I returned to alternate between being a tourist and an employee.
For all others like me, who have dreamed of packing up and moving to the mountains to open a cafe/inn/library, I hope this conversation shows you it’s possible to achieve those seemingly impossible goals. To those who do go on to achieve their dreams, please sit down with me and people like me so we can learn from you and your journey.
All the best!

Picture credit: booking.com